1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for searching photo information in a digital video cassette recorder (DVCR), and more particularly, to a photo information searching in which a plurality of discontinuously-recorded sheets of photo information are continuously displayed.
2. Description of Related Art
A digital camcorder, which includes a photographing unit in addition to the functions of a DVCR, can record a digital moving picture compression signal on a VHS tape and reproduce the thusly recorded signal. Using such a camcorder/DVCR, 12 gigabytes of digital signals, which are equivalent to up to 150 minutes of displayed video, can be recorded on a tape. Additionally, since the digital camcorder uses digital compression and restoration techniques, noise is kept to a minimum, the image quality does not deteriorate even during recursive reproduction, and compact disk quality sound can be realized. Importantly, the use of digital compression and restoration enables the storage and editing of about 500 sheets of photo information on a 60-minute tape.
The sheets of photo information are sequentially recorded on a predetermined number of frames when the photographing unit of the digital camcorder photographs an identical object. In the prior art, a user must manually search desired photo information from a recording medium on which a number of sheets of photo information are discontinuously recorded.
To solve the above problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method to search for a desired sheet of photo information within a short time by continuously displaying discontinuously-recorded photo information.
To accomplish the above object, there is provided a method and apparatus for searching photo information, particularly, discontinuous photo information recorded on a recording medium. The method is implemented in a digital video cassette recorder performing reproduction at a variable speeds. The method includes the steps of:
(a) detecting the end point of a sheet (or piece) of the discontinuously-recorded photo information by performing reproduction at a first variable speed when a search command is input;
(b) detecting the start point of the photo information sheet corresponding to the end point detected in step (a) by performing reproduction at a second variable speed;
(c) reproducing and displaying photo information between the detected start and end points of the photo information; and
(d) continuously searching a plurality of sheets (or pieces) of the discontinuously-recorded photo information by repeatedly performing the steps (a) through (c).
The steps of detecting the start and end points of the photo information are performed using photo recording information recorded in a subcode area of the recording medium.
The reproduction at the second variable speed is slower than the rewind (REW) reproduction at the first variable speed. Preferably, the first variable speed corresponds to the speed of ordinary rewind or fast forward.